More than 100 centers rise up to curb the escalation of school transport and demand its regulation

PalmThe call driven by GOB to demand fair school transport fares has already garnered the support of more than a hundred educational centers in Mallorca, Menorca, and Eivissa, and more than a dozen associations of principals, families, and unions, in a context marked by tourist pressure, which makes travel more expensive to the point of making it unaffordable for many centers and pushes some companies to stop offering this service as it is considered less profitable. The result is that there are students who never leave their municipality, because they depend on the school to do so and to see the world. Adhesions have been incorporated in recent days and demonstrate the growing scope of a problem that has been affecting the entire educational community for years.

The organization denounces that the increased cost of transportation for school trips repeats every year with the arrival of the tourist season. In this period, transport companies prioritize services linked to tourism, which are more profitable, reducing the available supply for educational centers and raising their prices. This year, moreover, the situation has worsened due to the increase in fuel costs, which has further driven up already high fares.

Students going on a field trip and students not going

According to the GOB, this dynamic generates inequalities among students. In many cases, the cost of transportation comes to exceed that of the activity itself, a situation that has led to a reduction in school trips and, in some centers, their elimination. This implies that access to these experiences is conditioned by the purchasing power of families. Beyond the economic impact, the entity emphasizes the pedagogical importance of activities outside the classroom, especially in the field of environmental education, as they allow children and young people to get to know their environment and understand the relationship between society and nature.

Faced with this scenario, the GOB and affiliated centers are demanding urgent measures from the administrations. Among the proposals are the establishment of a regulated educational tariff with affordable maximum prices, the guarantee of a minimum quota of coaches for educational use during high season, the creation of a protected calendar for school trips, public aid to offset surcharges, and centralized public procurement mechanisms. They also propose strengthening public transport as a viable alternative. Finally, they indicate that some local administrations have already been in contact to seek solutions and that they are awaiting the competent authorities to convene a meeting with all stakeholders involved.